Description

Dorothy’s Dreams by Mark Davies

Mixed Media British Artist Mark Davies was born in Bedfordshire in 1978 and studied Fine Art within the region with his early works being inspired by the compositional qualities of Piero Della Francesca and Giuseppe Arcimboldo whilst finding inspiration in the surrealism of Salvador Dali. Now living in St Neots Mark works full-time as a professional artist from his beautiful converted brick barn studio within the Cambridgeshire countryside.

In the style of an old photo this piece focuses on the seemingly idilic and untouchable world on the Kansas prairie that is home to Dorothy and her family on Gale Farm.. A humble and honest farm is the main point in the composition in a world where what the family see is what they know, where they want for nothing, however that is not the case is it. A girl going about her duties but one who is growing increasingly frustrated and curious as to what exists way up high in the dreams that she dreamed of. Is she starting to resent and rebel against the so called American Dream? There are certain details within the piece where you get wind of this unrest, again the devil exists within the detail. The twister was such a powerful sight, the shape and sound of the thing coming closer and picking up and spitting out all that gets in it’s way, a destructive force for so many but a beautiful wind of change for Dorothy it becomes the catalyst for her to escape and see a world that she would never probably have seen, where clouds are far behind her but where once there realises that all was not that bad and there really is not place like home.

The emphasis here is on a journey and freedom, the butterflies all symbolise that and are reinforced by the bluebirds which are a reference to the iconic song that Dorothy sang ‘Somewhere over the rainbow’. The mountains and rainbow in the distance are where Dorothy dreams of visiting and unbeknown to her she is about to get a lot closer to them, these mountains link nicely through to what you see in the second piece. What I wanted to create is an image that looks like a perfect family photo but when you look closer you get a wake up call that things are not as you think or hope them to be. The underlying concept in this piece is that sometimes a life-changing event can pick you and everything around you up and throw it all down leaving you to pick up the pieces but ultimately what gets broken down can be rebuilt so much stronger by people working as one.